The Value of Adding Topcon Healthcare’s Chronos to Your Optometric Clinic

Adding a new piece of equipment to your optometric practice requires clinicians to answer several important questions, all of which gesture toward prioritizing the patient experience. Will this new technology enhance the value of my examinations? Will it optimize my clinical workflow? Will patients feel comfortable with a new platform?

In the case of Chronos by Topcon Healthcare, the answer to all three questions is “yes.” By adding the Chronos to my practice, I have elevated my quality of care, improved my office’s efficiency, and impressed patients.

Chronos is a single platform that captures three key datasets foundational to a thorough examination: binocular autorefraction, keratometry, and subjective visual acuity. It can be used by any staff member in the office, is comfortable for patients, and is a trustworthy addition to my practice. Offices that place a premium on physical footprint will find that the device fits easily into their workplace, and clinics seeking to broaden their patient base may find that integrating cutting-edge technology such as Chronos will improve their practice’s reputation as an enthusiast of innovation.

ELEVATING QUALITY OF CARE

When incorporating new technology, reliability is paramount. When I first integrated Chronos into my practice, I continued to track my own examination findings. After comparing the refractive reports generated by Chronos with those done in an examination lane, I determined that Chronos consistently produced reliable, accurate results.

Patients expect to be examined carefully, but they also expect to be examined quickly. Practices in high-paced environments with patients who expect to be seen promptly will find that Chronos is conducive to creating more efficient appointments. Patients have commented to me that they found using Chronos exciting and that they felt as though they were undergoing a state-of-the-art examination. They also recognized that Chronos contributed to a smoother, bottleneck-free appointment.

OPTIMIZING CLINICAL WORKFLOW

Clinics are not only tasked with ocular examinations: enhancing patient throughput, empowering staff, and maximizing available office space are important elements of practice management that one cannot overlook. By adding Chronos to my office, I have addressed each of these issues.

My office prioritizes efficiency, and Chronos allows me to save time on each patient encounter. By shaving a few minutes off each patient’s examination before they see me for an in-person consult, they experience a speedy and effective appointment—and I get to have more face-to-face conversations with my patients rather than talking to them behind a spinning phoropter.

Staff members and technicians want to work in a setting where they are empowered to broaden their skillset and are granted agency in their professional growth. Chronos’ intuitive SightPilot™ (Topcon) interface allows staff members with little or no training to perform the requisite steps for an effective refraction (Figure 1). After observing my staff’s interactions with patients and analyzing the outcomes of their evaluations, I have confidence that staff members who are new to eye care can quickly and accurately capture patient refractive and keratometric data, thereby elevating them from routine staff members to reliable clinical adjuncts.

I would note, too, that bottlenecks have smoothed since including Chronos in my clinic. We now no longer only rely on seasoned, trained technicians to capture data before the chair examination. Before Chronos, an absentee technician created significant headaches for workflow. In the era of Chronos, I am confident that any staff member can step in for the platform’s typical operator and no decrease in quality will be experienced.

As someone who practices in the dense urban market that is Brooklyn, New York, space in my office is at a premium. Any new physical addition to my office must have a small physical footprint if we are to even consider incorporating it. Chronos takes up little space in my office, and we found space for this platform easily (Figure 2).

IMPROVING THE PATIENT EXPERIENCE

The patients I see at my practice are tech-savvy professionals who expect to interact with cutting-edge technology in clinical settings—and Chronos offers them exactly that experience. New patients in particular are impressed by my office after undergoing refraction on Chronos and have remarked that this technology sets my practice apart from others. Word travels fast when a progressive practice embraces innovation, and some of my new patients have scheduled appointments at Park Slope Eye after reading reviews online that cited Chronos as an example of why my practice is on the vanguard of innovation.

To determine how satisfied my patients were with appointments that included Chronos examinations, I followed a handful of patients who underwent refraction via Chronos and also sat for a subjective refraction evaluation. A large majority of my patients preferred the experience with Chronos. Embracing their preferences meant committing to a workflow that incorporated this new technology. That is not to say that I feel replaced by Chronos. Rather, I feel that it enables me to deepen my relationship with patients and provide a more personalized experience.

IS CHRONOS FOR YOU?

If your optometric clinic prioritizes exposing patients to the latest innovations, improving each patient’s experience, broadening your clientele, and empowering your staff, then consider investing in Chronos. Integrating Chronos into your clinical workflow will be straightforward.

Expect your patients to take notice, too. After all, their satisfaction and experience are foundational to your success.

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